Archive for January, 2009

Cool video

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Larry Fitzgerald is one of the wide receivers for the Arizona Cardinals.  Who, of course, will be going head to head with Kurt Warner for Super Bowl XLIII MVP.  But back in the day, he was a ball boy for the Vikings.  I found this cool little video about those days.  I was already a fan of Warner and Fitzgerald for their game.  I am a HUGE Warner fan because he is not ashamed to proclaim his faith.  I am now an even bigger fan of Fitz after watching this video. 

Classy guy.

Tropizm

The Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

I have been a football fan as long as I could remember.  I was a Redskin and Steelers fan growing up, but for no real reason other than I liked to watch them play.  I instantly became a Cardinals fan when they moved to Arizona in 1988.  At that time, the only professional sports team we had were the Phoenix Suns.  I liked and supported them, but I am a bigger fan of football than basketball.

I remember watching the very first game the Cardinals had as an Arizona team.  They were the Phoenix Cardinals and it was against the Seattle Seahawks.  Two things about that game stand out in my mind.  One, the Cardinals got beat horribly bad.  Second, I was alone in a hotel room, knowing that the next morning I would take an airplane to New Jersey and “officially” be in the Army.

Here I am, 20 years later.  I have endured so many bad, bad football seasons.  I have seen the Cardinals lose games they should have won, and in the most spectacular meltdown ways possible.  The Monday Night Football game in 06 against the Chicago Bears come to mind.  That game prompted the coach to give this memorable youtube moment.

All the losing, all the teasing because I am a fan of the team, now comes down to this, The Super Bowl.  When they win this weekend, all of the past will not be erased.  I think it will be amplified.  In my opinion, what makes this game SO special, is the fact that they have been so bad for so long.  Embrace the fact that we were the worst, and will soon be the best.  If the teams entire identity turns around to be a team that consistently goes to the playoffs, always have winning records, and make it to more Super Bowls, that would be fantastic.  Just remember all the years we had to endure to become that higher caliber team.  When going to the Super Bowl stops being a big deal, then why even watch the game.

One of the best parts of this particular season is that Dario and I started the season together, and saw their first preseason game of the season.  We both have footballs full of autographs from the teams training camp, and also autograph sheets.  This season, this team was already special to me because of that.  With them one win away from being the champions, its even more special.  (teasing jab at Dario) I have Larry Fitzgerald’s autograph on my football.

Tropizm
Cardinals fan

Uncharted territory

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

The Cardinals are in the NFC Championship game this weekend.

For those of us fans that have endured years and years and years of losing seasons, being the punchline to jokes, and lots of teasing from friends whose favorite teams have won Super Bowls and other accolades, this is for us.  We can finally hold our head up and say that we are a Cardinal fan and can hang our hat on something besides “have to support the home team”. 

I have seen my baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, win a World Series.  I have seen my basketball team, the Phoenix Suns, make it to the playoffs several times and once they made it to the finals to lose to Michael Jordan and the Bulls.

 But my favorite sport is football.  My favorite team is the Cardinals.  And they are one game away from the Super Bowl.  If they win this weekend, I cannot even imagine what I will do or feel like.  It is almost weird.

For the past few weeks, I have heard nothing but “the Cards are the worst team to ever make the playoffs, and win a division”.  There was even a site that had some computer program that took every game, ran through them 1000 times and came out with several interesting reasons as to why the Cards would lose in the Wild Card Game against the Falcons.  Hm, they also predict they will lose this weekend against the Eagles.  Guess computers don’t take into account the passion, determination, and desire they have been playing with for the past few games.  If the Cardinals lose this weekend, I would be very upset.  Not only because I believe they can win, but because of the way the Eagles have played lately they should beat them.

I am hoping they go on and win the Super Bowl.  If they don’t, I would be OK with it because just getting there, is a victory in itself.  My biggest let down would be if they are not able to take the momentum from this season into next season, and go out there and lay an egg.  That would be a greater loss than losing by 30 points in any of the remaining games.

Of course, there will always be peoble jumping on the bandwagon and that is OK too.  The real fans will stick with them, even when they are horrible.  But I just am enjoying the ride while it lasts.  If I could change one thing about this season, it would be to make it last season.  It would have been cool if the Super Bowl was a home game for the Cardinals.

Take care, enjoy the games, root for who you like.  Jeer at who you don’t like.  Its a great game, and I love it.

Tropizm
Cardinal Fan